Moments
by twilightjunkie1313
Summary: Calm days that let me breath, chotic ones that make me fight for everything and all the ones in between. This is our life, taking the good and the bad. This is the story of maximum, fang and the rest of us...series of oneshots mult.pov's rr please.
1. laundry day

Max Pov:

It was iggy who said what we were all thinking.

"We need to clean our cloths." He stated simply.

"They reek." Nudge added. "it feels like i am wearing dirt."

"In a way you are." Fang muttered, loud enough for iggy and i to hear.

I will be the first to agree with them. We had been traveling for about two days, with minimal rest stops and very little sleep. Whenever we did stop it had been to sleep in caves or trees. For the past fourty two hours or so we had avoided civilization. This also meant avoiding showers.

"there is a town coming up." Angel said suddenly.

"how far off?" I asked.

"about seven miles, northeast." she answered easily, pointing a finger in that general direction.

_wait a second, how would she know that? she dosen't read the maps, only fang, iggy and i do the navigational work..._

"I heard them max. the people's thoughts, there are more of them over there." she nodded her head to the northeast. " i don't try to know what they are thinking, i just want to know where the people are."

I admit, that was way into weird. But i didn't really care, we were gross and we needed showers.

"what do you guys think?" I asked.

"Sure." gazzy said.

"good." angel added.

"I say let's do it. I miss people, and we totally need a break." nudge said nodding slightly. It was quiet.

"Iggy?" i asked.

"Yes, let's go." he said easily. I glanced at fang. He shot me a look that said 'if we must.'

The tiny town of amanon had a population of about three thousand. They had a laundramat, grocerie store, hair salon, a few banks, some old houses and a few other buildings. Angel said they had a camping ground a few miles away. I didn't ask how she knew that. there were also a few boutiques, some tourist traps.

We stood on the far end of the tiny mainstreet. They all looked at me, waiting for a plan or instructions.

"We need to shower, clean our cloths, grab some supplies and eat. How clean is everybodys spare stuff?" I asked. We each carried a change of clothing in our backpacks.

"Not clean." iggy replied quickly.

Half hour later we stood out in the woods, in the campgound. There were a few showers in a bathroom type building.Sure it wasn't the cleanest place ever, but it did have hot water. We were in and out in about 45 minutes.

And then it was back to mainstreet.

i survyed the flock, all of us were clean. we were dressed in normal clothing, for the most part we blended.

"let's go." fang said simply, evenly. I began to walk towards the landramat. We must have looked weird, a bunch of kids with backpacks walking down the sidewalk.

We walked into the landramat. It smelled kind of soapy and really clean. It wasn't like the school, that smelled like disenfectant, straight bleach and indusrtial sanitizers. This place smelled like detergent, friendlier, softer but still clean. There was a door in the back, a few windows, all possible escape routes. I walked to the counter and the lady behind it looked at me.

"Can i help you?" she asked politely.

_Hi max, you need quarters._ Angel's thought drifted into my head.

"I need quarters." I said putting a five dollar bill on the counter. The lady began to count out quarters slowly.

"what are you children doing here?" she asked in the same curtious tone as before.

"we are on a camping trip, we are backpacking." i lied.

"oh." she said smiling.

"i'll take the boys. Give me some quarters." Fang said when i returned to the flock. I handed him about two fifty and he walked off. Iggy and gazzy followed him. I turned to Nudge and Angel, they were putting their stuff into a washer.

"I'll get the soap." I said. Nudge nodded at me and kept putting things into the washer, one at a time.

When i came back with the soap, all of ninety seconds later, angel and nudge were sitting on washers feet swinging.

"I put your stuff in too." angel said as i put the soap in the washer.

"Thank you." I said, _thanks for the quarters thing too._

"Your welcome." she replied.

Without much difficulty we managed to get our washer on the proper settings, and start it.

"it will be a little while." I said to nobody in perticular.

"I'll keep watch." angel said quietly, tapping her head. I knew that meant she would invade the mind of every human within a mile and a half. It was an ethics issue, but if it meant us avoiding erasers i was all for it.

"Be good." I said to her.

"I still think it should be cold water, not hot." Nudge said motioning to the dial.

"but hot water cleans better." angel argued, "that's why we take hot showers." I smiled and left them to their hot versus cold debate.

I walked to the boys, they had loaded their clothing and set the dials without any arguing. Now Iggy and gazzy were in the middle of an intense converation. Fang sat off on a washer, quietly watching everything.

"You can make some wepons with about six more of these sheets." iggy said to gazzy. Great, they were taking about making exlosives in the middle of a laundrymat. we were supposed to be blending in, not making our selves sound like juvenile delinquints.

"you'd have to get the other stuff to mix it with." gazzy whispered, iggy nodded. "you couldn't make soap explode by itself." though, i'm sure if given enough time and soap they could make detergent spontaniously combust. I shuddered at the thought.

Fang looked at me. i sat on the washer next to him.

"Our explosives experts." i muttered.

"they kept begging me for quarters, so they could get soap." he said evenly, a hint of sarcasm in his face.

"you didn't let them have any." I stated. It wasn't a question, we both knew that once iggy says he could use something in a bomb it is best to not let him have it.

"Nope." he replied "how is everybody?"

"relaxed but edgy. We'll stop for supplies and eat on the go." I muttered so only he could hear, well, he and iggy. I didn't really want to stay here for too long, people made me nervous.

"angel is keeping watch." I said slowly. I saw him relax a bit, angel could monitor better than any of us. His posture stayed tense, but his jaw wasn't tight, and his eyes stopped darting.

Our loads took about a half hour to wash. Then we transffered it all to the dryers. Angel tossed in celeste. I was glad, the bear was starting to smell funny. We all sat down together to wait.

"we are getting supplies and then eating." I said to the flock. Gazzy looked at me, just about to speak.

"we are eating on the go." I said, he closed his mouth.

An hour after we walked into the landramat we walked out. I felt paranoid, twitchy. It must have been the soap or something. The fumes were messing with my head. that wasn't good, i was already a paranoid recluse.

We walked to the local one-stop-shop. We baught some rope, bandages, bandaids, granola bars, trail mix, beef jerky, pop tarts, and energy bars. We unloaded our stuff onto the registar counter. The cashier looked at us, confused.

"We are backpacking, we don't want to run out of food." i said quickly, pouring all my honesty into the lie. It must have worked, because the cashier didn't ask us any more questions.

In the parking lot i passed out the food, giving each of us an even amount. We had started carrying our own backpacks as a prcaution, in case ersaers found us.

The tiny town of amanon had a mcdonalds. Normally, i would rather we dumpster dive out back. but we had already been seen around town, and we were clean. Jumping into a trash can for dinner would defeat the perpose of a shower. The others had pleaded to eat inside, so we took a vote. Iggy, fang and myself were against, angel, nudge and gazzy were for. Total was the swing vote. We filled into the mcdonalds, fang, iggy and i were nervous.

"You let the dog vote." fang muttered uneasy at going inside.

"this is america." I said simply, but i was just as thrilled as he was. the last time we had been to a mcdonalds we had been surrounded by erasers. Considering how our day had gone, this would be the perfect time and place for a disaster.

Iggy went first, ordering three whole meals, drinks and about five apple pies. I paid and he stood off to the side, waiting. Gazzy told angel what he wanted, and followed iggy into a booth near the back. Fang shuffled up to the register, calmly ordering enough food for three people his age, he also got a milkshake, two apple pies and an extra drink. I shot him a questioning look, since when was fang a milkshake person? He got his food and i paid for it in silence, hearing him slurp loudly on his shake.

Nudge walked up to the counter, getting four salads, two parfais, some orange juice, three apple pies and two orders of fries. Angel ordered for gazzy, and herself, walking away with an overflowing tray of food. I smiled and stepped up to the counter.

"can i help you?" the girl behind the counter asked, she looked stressed.

"six double cheesburgers and two orders of fries, two cokes, an apple pie, and a twelve piece chicken tenders meal." I said, not even looking at the menu board. The girl sighed.

About three minutes and twenty something seconds later i put my tray down on the table and slid in next to angel. They had already eaten most of their food. Fang, much to my dismay had half of his milkshake left. Angel and gazzy were eating peacefuly, total was on the floor, digging into an open box of chicken. For a few seconds there was silence, except for some wrappers shuffling.

"this is nice," Gazzy said suddenly, nudge and angel nodded. "i mean we haven't had anything go wrong yet." Angel nodded just a little, her face gowing suddelny stoic.

"it dosen't feel right," she said slowly. "we wern't meant to live like this." I was silent, all of us were.

We ate quietly. I was stunned, angel was right. We were avain human cross breeds. It would be ironic if we were to lead normal lives. It wasn't like we had signed on for the school's experiments, but we had gotten something out of them. Gifted with wings, superspeed and strength to try and live normally, anoung people would be...

"a waste." angel said softly, finishing my thought.

"what would be a waste?" gazzy asked curious.

"not finishing all your food, eat up." i said easily. he looked down at his tray and dove into some fries.

About ten minutes later I put two burgers into my bag, and started to clean up. The flock gathered their wrappers up, packing whatever food they wanted to eat later. We left the mcdonalds and headed out around back.

We couldn't just take off behind the mcdonalds, because we'd be spotted for sure. So we walked in the woods for about six minutes, finding a clearing. We took off into the sky soundlessly.

That night we set down in the woods, i felt weird, today was too normal. I guess it was a sign of how messed up i was, i disliked days that were too normal.

Fang Pov:

The flock went to bed pretty fast, max, iggy and i stayed awake, quiet for a few moments. iggy sighed, it was a happy sigh.

"night." he said, walking silently over to gazzy. he layed down on his stomach and was soon asleep.

"max."

"This shouldn't be happening." she said tense, she was on edge. she had been all day.

"max." I repeated, concern leaking into my voice. I was worried about her, she couldn't put herself through this. Was her voice making her worry?

"Today was too normal, to quiet. We've been on the run for days, it has been ages since they found us..."she got up and started to pace, her footsteps silent.

"Fang what if this is another game? a sick, twisted game?" panic edged into her words her body tensed, shoulder muscles tight. I stood up silently and came behind her, grabbing her by her upper arms gently, holding her still.

"Max." i said calmly. " you need to relax and take today for what it was." i felt her body slacken a little. she looked at me confused, like what i said made no sense.

"this is one of the few days we haven't clocked over fourteen hours in the air. one of the few days erasers haven't crawled out of nowhere and tried to kill us, today we sat down and ate as a flock..." i looked her in the eyes, "they are enjoying the heck out of this, and if they wern't it would mean they were so messed up they couldn't be saved ever."

she was starting to crack, her body was becoming really limp. It was the end of the breakdown, the crying, once when she was like this she had cut herself. i had found her, bleeding on a beach, holding a jagged shell. I composed myself, pushing the image of her out of my mind. I had to calm max, it was her job to watch our backs, guide us even when she didn't know how, defend us. My job was to take away her pain, fear, insecurity and protect her from the world, no matter what was tying to hurt her. i held on to her. she shook, her whole body quaking silently.

Max PoV:

"i know." i said finnaly. Fang was holding me up, my own legs to weak to fully support me. I know that good days should be celebrated and not scorned. But it all felt too much like a test, or a nightmare to enjoy. Maybe it was because i had been made to fight, or had grown up fighting and hadn't ever really stopped. I was a soldier, gifted with all sorts of wepons, but today i didn't fight my war. Normal stuff had almost torn me apart, angel's words echoed in my head _a waste..._ she was right.

but right now right and wrong didn't matter. five things mattered to me more than my own life. i looked at my flock, my gaze stopping at each face. I had a lot to be thankful for...

Iggy.

we were still alive, nobody was injured, severly.

Nudge.

we had escaped the school and had the chance to start over.

Gazzy.

we were never going ack to the school.

Angel.

we had been given flight, we were angels litrally. We were meant to save the world.

Fang.

We would do that too, all of us, together.

My gaze stopped at the last face, his face. He was looking at me, reading my thought's and feelings as though they were written across my cheek.

Fang Pov:

When i let go of her she was Maximum again. she was ready to fight the world again, win or lose. She was ready to die fighting. This was the maximum everyone saw, but it was only half. Her weakness defines her as much as her strength. The times when the world left her for dead, when all we trusted to be true becaume a lie. The times she lost her battles defined her as much as the times when she wins. Her name fit her perfectly, Maximum ride, she was designed to be the best, the ultimate. She was maximum, the world's fate lied with her. She had been meant to save hummanity, something we would never be a part of.

I didn't know if she would save the world, i knew that if she really wanted to, she would succeeed or die trying, it was the kind of person she was. I knew one thing and one thing only, we would follow maximum, to the ends of the earth and sky. We needed her, i needed her. She completed us, she was what held me to reality, the only reason i wanted out of those cages. without her i would have stayed and let them kill me. I didn't know what came tommorrow, or the next day.

just that we would follow her, on this incredible, indescribable maximum ride.

I looked down at her face, her eyes were closed. she was asleep.

"i love you maximum." i muttered, "i won't ever stop."


	2. storm

**A/N: I don't own the characters, or the voice. If I did that would be really excellent.**

**But I don't. The ideas are my own. Read and review please! **

Fang Pov:

It was starting to rain. Actually starting wasn't the correct word, it had been raining for the last fifteen minutes, but fearless leader Max wouldn't land. It was a full blown thuderstorm, complete with deep grey sky and black clouds. The rain felt like icewater.

She had taken us up above the clouds, above the storm. The veiw was really amazing and the noise was deafening. But we wern't being rained on.

"max." Iggy yelled, "the storm is getting worse." Gazzy, nudge and angel nodded. But max was silent.

"we can't keep flying above the storm, if it get's bad.." Iggy paused as a boom shook the sky. He waited for a second and then continued. "we can't land."

"fine, look for a clear spot.." she began.

"there isn't a clear spot." Gazzy countered.

I looked at max, we had to go down, now.

"nudge, igg, grab my hands and do not let go." she said calmly.

"and?" I asked, eyeing angel and gazzy. Max turned to me.

"we are going to guide them down, a straight drop. Once we get on the ground we can find a cave or something. Go as fast as you can." She explained, almost yelling over another blast of sound.

Angel and gazzy grabbed my arms. Angel zipped celeste into my bag.

"there." gazzy said, pointing to a space of light grey in the clouds.

"pull in your wings, and take them out when i tell you." i said quickly. They nodded, and pulled in their wings. I tucked my own behind me and we dropped.

We had dived before, lots of times. None of them was anything like this, rain sprayed my face, cold as ice. The sky began to shake with sonic booms.I pulled angel and gazzy close to me, to get a better hold on them. Our speed increased, and the sky, ground and lighning meshed into a blur of grey and white. I heard angel scream...I closed my eyes, feeling slightly sick. The ground was bluring up to kill us but atleast i couldn't see it.

"open you eyes fang or were gonna die!" gazzy yelled as we dropped.

I snapped my eyes open, flairing my wings out a bit to slow our speed. We were still going fast, about one ten. And we were going to hit...

"Mountain Range!!!" Angel managed to utter between screams. Oh shit. There they were, big grey and scarier than any eraser i had ever seen.

"do something!" gazzy yelled. In a heartbeat i thought of a plan, max wouldn't like it and neither did i, but it was a plan.

"we have to get down." angel said solomly. i knew that, i also knew that a dead fall in this wind would get us down the fastest and probably break a few bones.

"do not open your wings more than half way." I said quickly, they both shot me looks grim surprise. Then they nodded.

I threw each of them away from my body, whipping my arms out, sending them spiraling away from me. On instinct their wings snapped open. They couldn't stay up here, the were safer on the gound.

"go."

Angel pulled in her wings and rocketed toward the ground, feet first. Gazzy looked at me for a split second, then pulled in his own wings, dropping fast after angel. I watched them dissapear into the grey mess of clouds and rain. They would be okay, the look in angel's eyes, the strength, fury and lethal determination. They would be okay. I spun in the air, scanning the sky for max, iggy and nudge.

Max Pov:

"max, this won't work!" Iggy screamed above the crashes of thunder and driving rain. I was three feet from him but i could bearly hear. We were freefalling through the violent sky, nudge holding my right hand and iggy my left. All around us there was lightning and icy rain. I had ordered them both to keep their wings in, the tips of my own stayed out. I was deprately trying to level us off.

"our combined weight and the volocity of our fall will result in..." iggy tried to explain.

"spit it out iggy!" nudge yelled at the top of her lungs. At the same moment a roar of thunder shook te sky and vibrated deep in my ribcage.

"together the three of us will fall too fast, " iggy explained. "we have to split up if we want o keep freefalling, or we'll all be unconsious when we hit the ground." The storm had become increasingly violent. A flash of lightning lit up the clouds not more than ten miles away. I didn't want to let nudge go alone in this. But i would be damned if i let iggy try.

Then we dropped out of the clouds and into the murky grey sky.

"holy.." nudge began.

"crap." i muttered. We had been dropping through clouds, but now we were in the dangerous part of the storm. We were below the clouds, in range of lightning and..

"Mountains!" Nudge began to scream, the big black and navy colored peaks appeared out of nowhere. I angled our drop so we would miss them, but that left the us dieing on impact issue.

"i am going to let go." i shouted above the thuder and rain.We weren't tumbling around, but we were still falling, and gaining speed wih each passing foot.

"what?" Nudge yelled, he fingernails dug into my arm a little. Ouch.

"don't let go until i say, okay..." i didn't say it as a question, it was an order. Iggy nodded, looking half drowned and pale. Nudge didn't say anything.

"nudge." i muttered soflty. She looked at me, a glint of fear and determination in her eyes.

"yeah, yeah let's do it." she replied, her grip on my arm relaxed.

we were about four thousand feet above the ground. If we split now we would separate too much, i couldn't spend time finding the flock with the storm this bad. As is we didn't know where fang, angel or gazzy were.

Fang Pov:

I couldn't see them, it was getting darker and the rain didn't help. So i dropped to the ground, spreading my wings out thirty feet before i hit the ground, pushing them down hard. I landed on my haunches, in a small clearing. I was on my feet in a second, looking around for gazzy, angel, max or any threat.

"fang!" I heard my name and spun around. Gazzy and angel were running at me, looking relived. I crouched a bit to get a better look at them. Angel had a few thin scratches running down her jaw, gazzy had a small gash on his forehead. I reached up to check how deep it was.

"it's nothing." gazzy assured me, brushing my hand away. "we hit some trees." I winced.

"we need to find someplace dry." angel spoke quietly.

"i know."

Max Pov:

"now." i said, releasing each of them at once. Iggy whipped out his wings and dove for the ground. Nudge followed him easily. That's my guys, fearless as all get out. i smiled and began my own dive.

I landed really close to nudge and iggy, almost hitting them when i landed. I crashed to the groung in a heap, tucking in my wings to keep the from getting damaged.

"ouch." i heard iggy say, "i felt that." I untangled myself and brushed the dirt off my jeans. Shaking the hair out of my eyes i looked at iggy and nudge. They were soaking wet and pale looking.

"how was your landing?" i asked, noticing that their jeans had no additional dirt smudges.

"good, all things considered. Better than yours was." iggy said smiling. Nudge nodded, staying silent.

"really?" i asked, picturing a crash landing twice as bad as my own. Iggy nodded.

"it was awsome, we'll have to do it again." this time i picked up the sacasm in his voice.

"come on, we have to find them." i said suddenly. They didn't need to ask who i meant, there were only three other people on earth i cared about. And as of this second i had no idea where they were.

_yes you do._the voice, how appropriate.

_Oh? and how do i find them, we're in the middle of a freaking hurricane._

_technically no your not._

_shut up, or help._

_just follow the time._

great. another cryptic piece of advice.

"what did it say?" iggy asked calmly, taking a page from the fang book of vacant expressions.

"follow the time." i repeated. Iggy nodded, smiling.

"what?" nudge asked. Iggy tapped his watch.

"litrally the time, military personell use it as a directional tool. What time is it?" he asked, holding the watch to me.

"four."

In seconds we were gone, running at a breakneck pace through the woods.

Fang pov:

Eventually the found us. I had angel and gazzy hang out in a tree while i paced on the ground.

"here they come." angel said loudly. I stopped pacing and looked up at her. My eyebrow arched the slightest bit.

"i hear them," she said easily "they are a bit tired."

right, that was totally normal.

Sure enough max burst through the other side of the clearing, pausing as soon as she saw me. Iggy and nudge appeared seconds later, nudge smiled and them muttered to iggy, who smiled too.

"maxiggynudge" gazzy said in a rush, jumping out of the tree and running to them.

Max pov:

gazzy lept out of a tree and began to run at iggy, the last few steps gazzy jumped into the air and spread his wings. He and iggy collided both falling to the ground.

"good to see you too." iggy said smiling. Gazzy got off of him and helped iggy to his feet. Angel ran to my side, not tackling me but smiling.

"max." she said simply, hugging me tightly. I stroked her wet hair, and she pulled away.

I saw fang, sitting on a rock in the shadows. I slogged my way to him and sat down next to him. He was staring ahead blankly, his jaw set.

"fang." i asked slowly, "are you okay?" he turned his head to look at me.

"fine." he answered with a single word, his eyes never leaving my face.

"did you find a spot for camp?"

he didn't answer, just stood up and turned to me.

"don't ever do that again." his voice held the trace of an emotion that i had never heard before.

Fang pov:

I meant what i said, every word of it. I had panicked when i didn't know where she was. The idea that she might have flown off course or dropped into a tree at full speed...

It made me cringe.

As independent as i was, as much of an outcast as i appeared to be i needed one person on the planet. her. We somehow managed to complete eachother. My logic to her intuition, my calm to her pure emotion.

She was right behind me, still sitting on the rock. I could feel her eyes boring a hole into my neck. i turned, her face looked confused and shocked.

Max pov:

he turned back to me with pain in his eyes. I was confused, what did that mean? was he hurt, was angel or gazzy hurt? he walked toward me, i stood up.

in a flash his eyes changed, the pain swallowed by a diffrent emotion. love.

_go with the flow maximum._

Fang wrapped his arms around me, resting his head on my sholder. For a second it was impossible to breath, to speak, to move.

"i love you." i heard him whisper. I moved my head so i could see his eyes. His face was pale, dark hair hung in front of his eyes, wet from rain. i reached up and brushed it away.

"i love you." i said softly.

Iggy pov:

"aww. look." angel said quietly, tugging my arm. I turne my head searching for sound, and heard nudge's voice.

"it's max and fang." she said in a hushed whisper, letting go of my arm. What are they doing...oh.

"finally." angel muttered happily.

"finally what?" i asked annoyed, "tell me!"

"they kissed." angel explained simply.

**A/N: any chapter ideas-send them to me. All of the chapters are meant as oneshots, so sorry if they get a bit long. **

**-twilightjunkie1313**


	3. Night watch

**A/N: these are not my characters. Some of their thoughts are not mine, the plot is mine. The spelling errors are mine too (sorry). The rest belongs to James Patterson.**

**bows maximum ride is his and his alone.**

Iggy Pov:

I felt fang walk up to me, he tapped me carefully on the shoulder.

"Your first watch." He said quietly, i heard how worn his voice was. I nodded, watch wasn't so bad. It gave me time to think without all the distractions. I listened to the flock settle down to sleep, they sounded graceful and strong.

I closed my eyes and leaned against a tree, sinking to the ground.

There were moments where i was happy to be blind, grateful even. Times like this made me value the world in a different way. I could picture my family laying in the grass sleeping soundly. The shadows that the trees and leaves cast on their faces. I felt at one with the world, connected to nature and the air and everything. I didn't need to see any of it, i could feel it.

A sudden snap of a twig made me tense. I could hear somebody gasp, but i didn't know who.

"Nudge?" i said slowly, guessing. There was a pause, and then some footsteps as they moved closer. By the quiet shuffling i could tell it was Nudge.

"yeah." i heard the smile in her voice, and grinned. She always woke up in the middle of the night, sometimes she would try to sneak past me. But i always caught her. She shuffled up to my spot by the tree. I heard her sit down.

"hey." she said easily. I nodded in reply. There was a pause.

"having fun?" she asked, groggy and cheerful at the same time.

"yeah, it is really peaceful and quiet. I like the quiet sometimes..." i cut myself off, not wanting to offend her.

"i know, i mean," she paused looking for the right words, "Sometimes i just need the quiet. Like right now, this is good." I heard her laugh a little, and i smiled.

"What?" she said quietly, not wanting to wake the flock. "just because i talk a lot doesn't mean i don't like silence too." I nodded, i could understand that.

"so," i began, "why are you up?" I turned toward her.

Nudge pov:

That was the last thing i expected Iggy to ask me. I scrambled for something to say, a half hearted white lie.

"i couldn't sleep." I mumbled, pathetically. Iggy snorted in response, trying to stifle a laugh.

"crap. Now tell me the truth Nudge." He said tapping my knee with two fingers. I couldn't lie to him, but i didn't even know why i was awake.

He just sat there smiling, patent. His eyes had a sort of glassy film over them, like they were covered with smoke. He closed his eyes and i just stared at him, gaping.

"what are you thinking?" he asked suddenly, bringing me back to reality. How did he know i was gawking at him? Wait...was i gawking at him? Mentally i kicked myself.

"i was looking at something actually." i said, managing a complete sentence.

"really?" he paused for a second, and then continued. "I was thinking about some things."

"yeah?"

"yeah." he went on, "you know how we were all like engineered and designed for some big plan?"

"yes."

"So I have noticed that we are all in pairs. Max and Fang, as the leaders and opposites. Angel and Gazzy as siblings." I nodded. I had noticed the same thing, but Iggy had probably known for a long time. He was smart like that, almost creepy smart.

"So that left you and me, and i ah, well." he stopped looking at my face with those cloudy, brilliant eyes.

"I wouldn't mind being paired up with you, your really smart, and funny and..." he stopped, his face turned red.

I put my hand on his shoulder, lightly.

Iggy Pov:

I felt her hand on my shoulder, i was blushing furiously. I turned away from her, trying to compose myself. She tugged a little at my shoulder turning me back to her. I was breathing a little heavier than normal, my Adrenalin was racing.

"i get it. Max and Fang, you and me. Some sicko scientist, probably jeb, meant it this way." Nudge whispered. I nodded and tried to swallow.

Something about this second felt wrong and perfect at the same time. I didn't know why but i wanted to run away and hide. Another part of me wanted to freeze this moment and analyze it, figure out what was happening.

Instead i just nodded, and reached for her hand. Holding onto it, trying to breath.

Nudge Pov:

He grabbed my hand and suddenly a thought popped into my head.

_I love him. _

I froze for a second. I could hear my breathing, his breathing, the wind. Is this what he felt like all the time, feeling everything but never really seeing it?

"what's happening, what do you see?" he asked casually. His face to the wind, the breeze playing with his red hair. Some light managed to glint off his cloudy blue eyes. I looked around, my eyes falling on the most beautiful thing i have ever seen, my family.

"I see four angels sleeping, grey grass sweeping around them."

Iggy Pov:

I could picture it, clearly as i had ever seen anything before.

"and.." i prompted, not wanting her to stop talking, she was painting a picture with her soft voice. Whether it was real or not i didn't want her to stop.

"Max is pale, some of her feathers are moving in the wind. Angel is curled up in a ball, holding Celeste. Fang is still, and almost relaxed. Gazzy," she paused to take a deep breath. "Gazzy is flat on his back, the wind is playing with his hair."

She stopped talking, the sound of the nigh time, wind and leaves were faint, but easy to hear. I could hear her above everything else, the steady in out of air to her lungs. She was looking and thinking about something.

"what." i breathed, never turning my head from her. Her breathing paused for a moment, then i heard her exhale. She waited for me to speak again.

"what were you doing?" i asked, gesturing to the empty space in front of me and the sky above.

"thinking."

"about what?"

"max and fang." She replied carefully, her tone was raw emotion. Confusion and sadness seeped into each syllable.

"hmm." i murmured, nodding.

"Will we, are we.." she studdered for a moment, "do we have what they have?"

I cocked my head to the side, not thinking. My emotions were spiraling, i was delerious, depressed, stoic, excited and nervous at the same second. I had loved Nudge like a sibling for years now, but did i feel anything more? My stomach lurched itself into a knot. Yes, yes i did love nudge, for her clumsy alkwardness and her incredible grace.

My head began to spin, it was the first time i had admitted it, but i knew it to be true.

I love nudge, as more than a sibling, more than an equal.

She was my soulmate, wether pre-enginered or stumbled on by fate. Nudge was my match, my polar opposite and my better half. I heard her breath slow, almost stop.

"Nudge?" i said quietly, i heard her inhale fast, clenching my hand a bit harder.

I knew she was expecting an answer, a reply, some sort of confession. But i couldn't do that, my brain refused to put feelings into words. So i reached out with my other hand, placing it lightly on her sholder. I felt a shiver pass through her body, all the way to her opposite hand. I brushed the tips of my fingers up her neck, carefully. Feeling her muscles tense. I smiled a little, my heartbeat suddenly pounding through my whole body.

I felt her jaw, smooth and perfect. i let go of her oter hand, bringing it up to hold her neck.

I kissed her, wrapping my arms around her back, pulling her body to me. It was like a current passed through my body. I rested my head on her sholder, half nuzzled to her cheek.

Nudge Pov:

I couldn't move or think or breath, iggy was so close, closer than he had ever been.

And by some odd force i could feel his emotions, each and every one. Joy and anxiousness, desperation and a sadness i couldn't place. I wrapped my arms around his sholders. We sat like that for a while, seconds of shared feeling.

Then we pulled back, he looked confused and apologetic.

"oh my god." i murmured, still feeling adrenalin racing through my veins. He was shaking his head, looking torn and sad.

"What happened..." he gasped, eyes wide. His hands were shaking.

"are you okay..." i said slowly, still feeling the emotion from the kiss, both his and mine. he nodded, looking paler than normal, but no worse for wear.

Iggy Pov:

It felt weird, fighting erasers for ten minutes left me a bit hungry, tired. But kissing Nudge left me weak, and confused.

"i am so much older...this shouldn't have...oh my god...what will..." i began to mutter to myself, saying half coherent thoughts as they streamed through my head.

I noticed a quiet, nudge wasn't talking, or even moving, i heard her breathing, shallow and slow.

"what did you say.." she breathed pain and confusion seeping into her tone.

"i am older than you, and we're family, and what would happen to them," i shook my head, waving my arm at the flock.

"if something happened..." i started again, my stomach filling with lead. I heard her stand up and move in front of me.

"angel," she said a touch louder. To my surprise, angel woke up an shuffled to us.

"Nudge." angel said slowly, as easily as saying good morning. But it was about one a.m.

They were quiet for a moment, and i got the feeling that Nudge was talking to Angel. Crud. Suddenly i was pulled to my feet, Nudge's hand in an iorn grip on my wrist. For a few steps i struggled, but Nudge was strong and the grip just got tighter.

"Nudge." I began. she kept pulling me along, i stumbled on tree roots and rocks.

nothing.

"Where are we going." I said louder, not bothering to phrase it like a question. I knew she wouldn't respond until we had stopped. About twenty seconds later we did.

Angel Pov:

Iggy was going to get it. Not a smack upside the head, or even a lecture. Nudge just needed to know what he felt, what he thought about her.

A while ago at the school, Angel had done some thinking. She thought about how the flock was an even split between boys and girls, and about how some of them were so perfect for each other. She had never asked jeb about it, or told anyone what she thought. It was an idea she had kept to herself, because it had never felt right to share.

So here she was, waiting for Iggy and Nudge to get back. She knew this would happen, she could feel other people's emotions but she could read thoughts. It had come in handy tonight.

_"Angel, wake up." Nudge had thought clearly. The thought wasn't paniced or even mad, it just was. Like a loud version of Nudge in her brain._

_"coming." she had responded, putting the thought in Nudge's head._

_"Okay, i am going. Iggy is coming, if we don't come back in a little while get fang." Nudge had instructed clearly._

_Angel only nodded._

And here she was.

Iggy Pov:

It was dead quiet for three whole seconds. And then i heard Nudge take a breath, a large deep i-am-going-to-tell-you-what-i-think breath.

"How do you feel about me." she asked slowly. It was a question with so many diffrent answers. My head spun.

"I am your brother, this is my family, our family..." I searched for words, "i am older than you are, if this went badly, what could happen to..." i trailed off, and she jumped in.

"We have been through hell, heaven and anything in between. There are only five people i'd risk my life for. There are only five people i can love, ever." her tone suggested no comprimise. I stood still, absorbing this. She would never change those opinions.

"we can't be normal." I said defeated.

"No, i cannot love anybody but you. i can't exist in that world, normal isn't my life."

"but this was planned out."

"and so were wings, win some lose some."

"but if it dosen't work." I protested. She had shot down almost all my arguments.

Suddenly i felt her close, way close. She put her hands on each side of my face, cradling it. I leaned into her, resting my forehead on the top of her head. She nuzzled into my chest, pulling me into a hug.

"if not us than who." she said simply. I closed my eyes, feeling the lids cover my eyes. She was right, as emotion so often is when presented with a logical argument.

"I love you. You should know." i murmured slowly, holding her for the second time that night.

At that second i realized something. That from a rational point of veiw, opposites cannot mix and do not belong together. But that when you throw reality into the mix it is diffrent. You come to know that opposites, light and dark, logical and emotional, stoic and vibrant can complete each other.

It was Fang and Max to a t. It was Nudge and I. It was the way the world worked, the way we worked, the way it had been planned.

Without the bad you can never find the good.


	4. left with this

**A/N: These are not my characters, we know who owns them. This is my plot, my perspective and my words. I had to add in a jeb PoV, he is a vital character and the only adult figure in the story really (aside from voice.) Review if you have suggestions, flames opinions or questions.**

**Enjoy-twilightjunkie1313**

Jeb PoV:

I trotted down the hall, my footsteps echoing off the tiles. It was late, and most of the lights were off. I walked down the empty halls to my office.

The office was almost neat and tidy, the way i liked it. I looked across my desk, files of max and the flock were scattered about. I picked one up, these files held years of information on the flock. But reports would never match the memories i had. I shuffled the papers into their respective folders and put them back in my filing cabinet.

Then i turned to a table that sat in the corner. On it was a medium sized T.V. Sitting next to the table was a shelf stuffed with DVD's, CD's and tapes. Also on the shelf was a photo album. I picked it up carefully.

It was a gift from the flock, they had somehow gotten a hold of a camera. Each of them had taken a few pictures, and pasted them into the album. I had added some of my own over time. Each of these photos had a story, and i remembered them all. As if someone had inscribed the memory onto my mind with a razor. I opened the book to the first page.

It was a photo of the six of them, wings tucked in tight, invisble to the camera. Max was holding angel, fang and iggy had an arm round each other's sholders, looking like brothers. Nudge and gazzy stood at opposite ends of the group, smiling. They were young in this photo, happier and curious. The next few photos were the same, two or three members of the flock. Each looking happy and normal.

The next one was about six months later, the change was drastic. The photo showed max, wings fully extended, sitting cross legged on the ground. Her hair hung in her face, making her look much older than she really was. Standing behind her was Fang, his black wings streched out. Next to it on the page was a photo of iggy and Nudge standing with Gazzy between them. None of them were smiling, they had calm expressions.

I flipped the pages, glancing at water ballon fights and flying lessons. I hurried past a few shots of them flying. Then i got to the pages i wanted...

The first picture on the page was Angel, nose to nose with Gazzy. It was like a mirror image, their intense blue eyes and blonde hair were identical. Thier eyes had compassion and amazing focus. It was like looking at a child with a lifetime of experiences. The next picture was Iggy sitting cross legged in the grass, staring at the camera through cloudy eyes. His wings were flaired out, and his face gaunt and stoic. From this picture I could see how he and Fang were related.

The next photo was Nudge standing in front of a window looking over the canyon. It was beautiful, her skin against the blue sky and the deep russet of the earth. In her eyes there was a spark, a shadow of her soul. That picture more than any other showed her as a fighter.

Then there was Fangs picture. He had insisted on standing against a stark white backround, and dressing head to toe in black. The effect was stunning. His eyes, normally a dull dark brown, seemed black. Hair hung in his eyes, and his deep ebony wings contrasted not only with the wall but his skin. At first glance the picture made him seem strong and unbeatable. But at second glance he looked incomplete, like half of him was gone.

I turned the page over to see max. This photo showed her standing a few feet from the lip of the canyon, her wings out, eyes focused on the camera. Even with her wings fully extended it was her eyes that commanded the shot. Brilliant and firce, they were the eyes of a leader, survivor. They were eyes that had seen too much and experienced too much. But my favorite part of this picture wasn't her eyes or wings.

It was her necklace.

_"That is way too much white." Iggy said slowly, nudge and angel nodding in agreement._

_"How would you know?" Max shot back._

_"Nudge told me." Iggy replied easily. Max shot a look at nudge, it was a don't-you-even look._

_"I know." Fang spoke quietly. _

_Without another word he plucked a stray feather from one of his wings. He pulled a piece of black string from his pocket and tied the feather to it. The flock stared at him in silence. When he was finished he went up to Max. Carefully tying the necklace around her neck._

I stared hard at the photo, the black feather had balenced the picture perfectly. Then i flipped to the last page, it was blank.

I closed the album and set it down. That was all i had. Aside from the files and videos that documented their lives here, but those meant nothing. Because none of them really lived while they were here, the ate and breathed and slept. But they were in cages or on tables.

Out there they were free. Betrayed, abandoned and left on their own, but they were free. Hunted by erasers, but free none the less.

Sometimes i think they won't be okay, that they won't be able to make it. That they will just break down and give up, let the erasers kill them. But i take a look at the photos and i know better.

They will save us. Angel, Gazzy, Nudge, Iggy, Fang and Maximum.

They are the only ones who can.


	5. Sight

**A/N: I don't own Maximum Ride (Patterson does)...Just the words are mine. I made a longer version of this but re-wrote it to be a oneshot. Hope you like it.**

**-twilightjunkie1313**

Fang Pov:

From my place at the back of the flock i could see everything. I saw Iggy flying in formation, his wingtip inches from Gazzys. I could see Angel wrapped up in her own thoughts. Thoughts that no six year old should ever have to deal with. I watched Nudge, bobbing in the air, a small trace of a smile on her face. I could see each of them, determine how they were holding up, when we needed to rest. I could see max, her straight course weaving slightly.

She never weaves, waivers or slows down when she flies. Unless...

There was something wrong with the voice.

Before i could move, or blink or even flinch max was doubled over. She clutched at her temples in agony, wincing. Then she just fell, her wings stopped beating and her light frame began to drop downwards.

"Max!" Angel screamed, holding her own head and cringing. She was picking up on max's pain.

"Iggy, Angel!" I ordered quickly, not bothering to explain.

Then i dived down after max, hurling myself toward the earth. The wind making my eyes raw. I scanned for her body, and then saw it. She was falling, slower than i was diving, but falling nonetheless. Her wings were sprawled out and whipping in the wind.

I dropped down to her, without thinking i grabbed hold of her. My arms locking around her rib cage. Her wings were beginning to tangle in mine, preventing me from flying. Our combined weight made us fall faster, i grimaced. Hitting the ground at this speed would be lethal.

I stared at max for a split second. I didn't want her hurt. Ever.

The wind whipped past us, he wings catching in it, knocking into mine. I heard two loud pops, and felt a jolt of pain. One of my wings had been popped out of socket. I hissed and tried not to swear. The ground was only a few hundred feet away now.

I had to do something, now.

So, in a max-worthy split second decision i turned us in the air. Wrapping my legs around max's to keep them from flailing around. I loosened my grip on her rib cage and threw a arm around her back, holding onto both of her tan streaked wings.

Then i closed my eyes, preparing for hell.

We hit trees and red specks flashed behind my eyelids. Crashing into the top of an old oak. The branches tore at each inch of max and myself. Cutting my face, cloths, leaving gashes across my legs and wings. The trees didn't seem to slow our speed at all. I felt a branch slice it's way over my arm, and i hissed in pain. I felt warm seeping onto my skin. Then, for a second, i didn't feel the trees eating at me. I felt air, calming empty air.

Right before i hit the ground i snapped my eyes open. Taking in blurs of tan, red and green. Then all the colors and shapes faded, replaced by blackness.

I felt a warm body on mine. Max...

Iggy Pov:

I knew something was wrong the second Angel had screamed. The terror and panic in her voice made my blood freeze. I thought it was erasers, or maybe nudge's recollection of max's beach stunt.

But as soon as i heard fang i knew it was worse, much worse. He sounded scared, and mad and determined.

"Oh my god." Gazzy breathed. He paused mid-air and hovered. I stopped at his side.

"What..." i asked quietly.

"She fell.." Nudge managed to speak, her voice coated in astonishment and fear.

In half a second my brain began to calculate. Max's average cruising altitude, provided by itex, combined with the maximum volocity something her weight could reach in freefall...

The odds were miserable. Not even fang's determination and strength could do much to change them.

I felt gazzy grab me by the arm and pull me down. I pulled back for a second, before he let go.

"We have to follow them." His tone radiated fear and determination. For a moment it was possible to hear how much like fang he was.

None of us said anything else, we just _dove_.

We rocketed through the air, wind streaming in our faces and howling in our ears. I urged myself to go faster, but couldn't. Half of me wanted to reach the ground. Half of me desperatly wished that i could freefall forever. I didn't want to face the scene that waited for us on the ground.

"Max! Fang!" I heard nudge yelling as her voice dropped into the trees. "Oh my god. Iggy, Gazzy, Angel.." Nudge was still yelling, but her voice was cracking and breaking with each word.

Soundlessly we followed nudge into the forrest, landing in a small clearing. The second their feet hit the ground i heard them take off running. I followed in a haze.

_Angel, show me...please. _I begged her with a thought.

I wasn't ready for the images, i would never be ready for them.

Fang with Max's limp body draped over him. Her tawny wings draped across them at odd angles, spotted with blood and fresh scratches. Fang's own skin etched with dozens of cuts and gashes. A line of crimsion ran up his arm, marking a deep cut. His wings crushed beneath his body hapazardly.

I couldn't breath, or blink or speak. I focused in on the details or the scene before me. Bile rose up in my throat, my stomach felt hollow.

I looked closer at the images Angel gave me. There was a fine layer of dust in Fang's dark hair. I stared at Max's hand laying limp on his stomach. Fang's own arm limply wrapped around her back. The light filtered through the trees cast strange shadows on the two. Making them seem both immortal and dead.

_Angel, _I begged silently, _Please stop...please stop._

At once it was the most beautiful and terrible thing i had ever seen. I kept staring at them in my minds eye, their bodies broken and bloody. It was something i wouldn't forget.

Nudge PoV:

I had seen them first. How i don't know, but i did. Without thinking i just raced into the forrest, running at them as soon as my feet hit the dirt. Even from far off it looked bad, but survivable.

Then i came closer and i knew...

Seeing their bodies, Fang and Max, their wounds and the sickening bend of their wings. They had crashed, just below dive speed, into the trees. The odds of surviving that, even for them were slim. I began to scream, not wanting them to be dead. Needing the rest of my family here with me, i couldn't face this alone.

It didn't take long for the others to catch up to me. Angel was screaming max's name, panic seeping into her voice. Their footsteps coming to a sudden stop as they saw them.

I tore my eyes from our leaders to look at te trees. Freshly broken limbs showed their fall path. I winced, some of the branches they had hit were eight inches in diameter or bigger. The fall out of the trees must have been around sixty feet.

I heard my breath rush back to me in a ragged gasp. Nobody wanted to move, nobody wanted to touch them, to see if they had a pulse. To clean their wounds, because it would mean knowing if they were alive.

And having to tell us if they were dead.

None of us wanted to know if they were dead. We couldn't handle that, i couldn't handle that. My head spun a bit, the forrest going blurry. They were our protectors and our leaders, as close to parents as we had ever had. They couldn't be dead...but the silence of the flock and the way Max and Fang looked, i didn't know.

"Angel, read them." Iggy's voice broke the heavy silence, his voice a painful whisper.

"Nudge, the emotion, can you..." he paused for a moment. "Are you okay?"

"Yes." I replied, taking a step closer to Fang and Max. Getting ready to touch the ground around them and feel the emotions. Another step, and i sunk into a crouch.

"Wait!" I heard Gazzy's paniced voice from behind me. I spun, to see him and Iggy staring at Angel. Her face had gone blank, her eyes closed, hands in tight fists at her sides. She was whispering Max's name over and over.

Then is a split second she opened her eyes and her hands relaxed. She blinked at us.

"Max is having a brain attack, I can't read Fang, same as usual." She explained her tone wieghed with worry.

"Will they be okay, when will they wake up?" I asked reciving a glare from iggy that said don't-push-her-she's-scared.

"I don't know." Angel replied, sounding more like a six year old than she ever had.

We all stood for a moment, absorbing that information.

"What are we going to do?" Gazzy asked slowly, looking from Iggy to myself.

"I can't move them, they could be hurt." Iggy stated flatly, i nodded.

"We're staying here then." I said, looking around the forrest.

Iggy Pov:

I nodded at Nudge's words. Max and Fang would cheerfully beat us if they found out we were going to stay in an unknown forrest, in an impossible-to-defend location. But they would have both done the same thing.

"Angel, Gazzy scope out the forrest a bit. See what's out there, get some fire wood." I said quickly.

"Okay." I heard Gazzy mutter before darting into the woods, Angel at his heels.

"Nudge find a tree that Angel and Gazzy can sleep in."

"Any one of them will work."

"Okay." i replied, falling silent.

Fang PoV:

I felt Max, her body limp and heavy stretched out over mine. I didn't open my eyes, didn't move. Every inch of my body felt like it had been beaten with a bat. Then i rememberd why i was laying here. Scattered bits of memory played through my head, the pictures sharper than a razor blade.

_Max clutching her head, curling up mid air...Her body dropping out of the sky, wings fluttering around her... Me, diving down to get her, stop her from hitting the ground..._

We had crashed. I tensed up, hearing voices.

"Iggy we can sleep on the ground..." Angel protested. Mentally I smiled, knowing that angel wouldn't take special treatment. Max and I had raised them better than that, they were tough and determined...poor Iggy.

_Angel, listen to Iggy. _I thought hard, letting the barriers in my mind slip open. _He's doing the best he can for you._

_Okay._ She replied simply, i heard her jump up into the trees.

_Is Max okay? _I asked, keeping my breathing shallow, not moving. I looked asleep to everyone but angel.

_I don't know, she's been having brain attacks...they've been lasting for too long._

_How long?_

_Almost five hours now...are you okay?_

_Yes, but i need more rest. _I felt my head spinning, and an odd prodding feeling. Was angel trying to read my thoughts?

_Angel, i need you to stay out of Max's head. You could get hurt, badly. I also need you to get out of my head, now._

I sighed unoticably as the prodding feeling faded. Then i closed my eyes and drifted back to sleep.

Max Pov:

When i woke up i felt like i had faught three dozen heavily armed erasers with my wings tied behind my back. Ouch. I stretched my wings out quickly, and then winced. My left wing felt like it had been twisted out of socket. The muscles around the joint connecting my sholder to my wing hurt, bad. I didn't move my wing after that...it hurt.

Then i heard a groan and opened my eyes, wide.

Fang was laying underneath me, crushed down on his raven wings. His face was coverd with scratches, dust coated his hair. His eyes widened a bit and then narrowed at me confused.

"Fang." I said breathed slowly, not wanting to move. My body hurt, and a wing was out of socket, at least i thought it was.

Fang Pov:

I looked down at her. She was safe, alive and, for the moment laying on top of me. I did a three sixty and saw iggy sleeping against a tree.

In a fluid movement i wrapped my arm around her waist and stood. Pulling Max to her feet, and turned to Iggy.

"Iggy." i said calmly, rolling my sholders and popping the joints.

He stood up in less time than it took to blink, croutching into a fighting stance. Before i knew it he had thrown something at us, and i heard the small whoosh of a rock sized bomb.

As if by instinct i swept my hand in a wide arc in front of me. A starange blue light, almost like electricity, seemed to follow my hand. The light stayed in the air for a moment, just as the bomb hit it. The shards from the explosion sprayed everywhere, pieces that it the light seemed to desintagrate.

That was the last thing i expected.

"Holy shit." Max breathed next to me, a look of astonishment on her face.

"Max? Fang?" Iggy said in surprise, "What was that sound?"

"You almost killed them!" Nudge screched from the tree. She dropped off the branch effortlessly, landing beside Iggy with a mix of anger and surprise on her face.

Iggys eyes went wide with shock.

"Oh my god! I had no idea that was you! I thought you were still asleep.." he paused for a second. "Wait, how are you still alive?"

None of us answered for a moment. Then Angel dropped out of the trees, a rock in her hand. She threw it at Max and myself without any warning.

This time i held up my hand, right in the rock's path. No light shot from my hand, but i flicked my wrist and the rock dropped to the ground like a dead eraser.

"You can move things with your mind?" Max said softly, her voice sending a small shiver through my spine. I nodded slightly.

"yeah."

"Wow." I heard iggy mutter loudly. Nudge nodded absently. Angel yawned, trying to hide it. But Max and I caught it.

"Bed, all of you." She said easily, her voice taking an unmistakably athorative tone.

"But.." Angel got ready to protest.

Max Pov:

"Bed." I said in an unmistakably do-or-die voice. I had just fallen out of the flippin' sky from god-only-knows-how-high and woke up to realize that Fang could move things without touching them or threatening them. My well of leaderly patience was gone. I needed something to beat up, too bad all the erasers were dead.

"Fine." Angel muttered sloftly before taking off straight from the ground and setteling back into the trees. Nudge followed her without a word, so did Gazzy.

Iggy took a few steps closer to us, somehow knowing where we were.

"Are you both okay?" He asked slowly, staring at a space between us.

"Yes." I said slowly, not quite sure it was true.

"Yes." Fang replied, but the look on his face said diffrently.

"Angel showed me what happened..." iggy began slowly. Wait what? Angel showed him something, like, she let him see something?

"How." Fang asked quickly, his eyes flashing hope and suspicion before going dark again.

"She put the image she was seeing in my head, like it was a thought, but diffrent. I saw you both, you looked, it was..." Iggy trailed off.

It was horrible. That much i could tell from the twisted anguish on Iggys face. I looked at Fang, he had put his hand on iggy's sholder.

"We'll be fine." Fang said carefully, not lying but not telling Iggy how bad off we were.

"Will you help us bandage?" I asked slowly. Iggy nodded, swallowing and began to brush his hands across my face, arms and wings. Fang tightened his hold on my waist, ready in case i fell.

I nearly passed out when his hand grazed one of my wings. Fang saw the look on my face and grabbed Iggy's wrist.

Fang PoV:

"I think it's out of socket..." I paused, scanning her face. "we have to put it back in." Max only nodded, her face slightly pale. Her eyes focused on empty space. I pulled her closer to me, wrapping my arm around her back and between her wing joints. She felt light and weak, like she had been fighting for seven hours and lost ten pounds. I leaned down to talk into her ear.

"Max Iggy has to pop it back. Okay?" I felt her nod against my sholder.

I watched Iggy put one hand on her back, right between her wings, and the other on her wing. Without any notice Iggy snapped the wing back into place, and max colapsed.

I held onto her and guided her down. Laying her body on the ground.

She had passed out, probably for the next thirty minutes.

"Help me dress the wounds." I said quietly to Iggy. He nodded and went to get the frist aid kit. I pulled max's sleeves up, checking for deep cuts. There were a few, Iggy came back with the rubbing alcohol, opening the bottle and pouring some on a rag.

"Hold her for me Fang, this will sting a bit." He said quietly.

"Where?" I asked, not sure where he was going to start.

"Her arm." He said, brushing his hand over her forearm. She had a series of four or five deeper cuts running over her arm like a set of crimsion braclets.

Iggy touched the rag to her arm, the smell reminding me of the school, itex, max's clone and ari. I blinked to rid the images from my mind...

In that instant max had woken up, snapped her eyes open and sat up. She threw her arm out as if to hit Iggy. Only she didn't hit him, she didn't even touch him, but he flew fifteen feet into across the grass and landed in a heap on the ground.

"Ouch, god Max..." Iggy muttered, standing up slowly.

"I'm so sorry Iggy..." she said, her eys going wide.

"You have my power." I said slowly, we looked at each other for a second.

wow. This would be interesting.

**A/N: I'm sorry if that was OOC but i had to (had to) give Fang a power. And let's face it, Max got the short end of the stick when she landed a voice in her head. So i needed to make them even, kindof. reveiw please (especially if you have any ideas.)**

**-twilightjunkie1313**


	6. chaotic notes

**A/N: As stated before Patterson owns Maximum Ride and all related characters. The plot however is mine. The song is written by bob franke (entitled hard love.)**

**Thanks to ruby1792, Katie-3llen, Myrah and Wings-of-water-SKYE...you four rock. This chapter goes to you.**

**enjoy-**

**twilightjunkie1313**

Fang Pov:

It was late, about two thirty in the morning. I couldn't sleep, i hadn't been able to sleep for a few days now. Normally, i pull odd hours, what with being on the run and all. But this wasn't like the hundreds of other times i stayed up on watch. I couldn't sleep because she wasn't here with me.

It was nobody's fault but my own.

I had left her. I was the one who had stuck by her side, saved her from bleeding to death of a beach. I was the only one that kept her from insanity. I was the one who held her hand while Dr. Martinez cut out her chip. She had said she loved me.

And i had left her.

I turned over in my bed, the springs making a horrible squeaking sound.

"Fang." Iggy said quickly, i saw his eyes fly open and then flutter shut. I swallowed hard, my throat raw and sore.

"Yeah." I said quietly, my voice sounding raw. Iggy picked up on the emotion instantly, climbing out of his bed. He sat on the edge of it, looking in my direction.

"I have something for you." He said slowly, rubbing his temples.

"What?" My voice filled with sleep, and astonishment.

"Lifted the card, keep it in your front pocket next time..." He smiled briefly, then nodded toward the tiny closet. "In there."

I grinned a little, he was a mastermind. Iggy could lift anything off of anyone. I was a paranoid, overly sensitive bird kid with wicked fast reflexes. And he still got past me.

"Danget Iggy."

"Don't danget me, just open the closet." He shot back. I sighed internally and hoisted myself out of bed. In a few quick strides i had crossed the small rented room and jerked open the closet door.

In front of me was a guitar. Old an wooden, with a black strap and a note.

_Fang-_

_Use it well, _

_I+G_

"Thanks." I sputtered, somehow managing to make the words sound void of emotion and extremly grateful at the same time.

"Go to the roof, i'll keep watch." Iggy said slowly, a sad smile creeping across his face. I just swallowed and nodded. Taking the guitar in one hand i jumped out the window, circled the hotel a few times and landed on the flat roof.

"Use it well." i muttered, closing my eyes and waiting for the right words to come.

I let my fingers dance across the strings, pulling and plucking at them. Making soft chaotic notes.

Iggy Pov:

I heard Fang take a running start and leap through the window. His clothing never even brushing the sill. I heard him land somewhere on the roof above us. We had asked for a spot on the top floor, closer to the sky. I crossed the room and sat in the chair near the window.

We had been away from Max and the others for three weeks. In that time I have noticed everything. Fang's slow decent into insanity, the hours he spends awake after he thinks i have fallen asleep. The hours he spends silent, staring at empty space.

So we went to a thrift shop and bought a guitar. I tuned it, and found the perfect strap, black with black wings embroidered onto it. With some help from Gazzy i wrote a note. Then we left it in the closet-waiting for him to find it. Or a time like this.

Somehow, Fang had been musically inclined. The silent, stoic Fang had gotten a guitar for his birthday a long time ago. I remember hearing him pluck at it for hours, listening as the notes turned into short songs, then longer, and longer.

Fang Pov:

I didn't need to try and remember how to play. I didn't need to think hard about what to sing, it was all there. Right under the surface, begging to come out. I brushed my hand across the strings, feeling the sound echo in my chest.

_It was hard love_

_every step of the way_

_hard to be so close to you_

_so hard to turn away_

_when all the stars and sentimental songs dissolved today_

_there was nothing left to song about but hard love_

I took a breath, trying to calm myself. It was useless, i was a train wreck without her.

_So i loved you for your courage_

_and your gentle sense of shame_

_and i loved you for your laughter_

_and your language_

_and your name_

_I knew it was impossible but i loved you just the same_

_though the only love i gave to you was hard love_

My mind flashed pictures, Max looking stunned after I kissed her, Max's wings as she lept out of the cave away from me. The silouett of her against the moon as she flew off into the desert. I closed my eyes and pushed the images away. The pain they left behind felt like bullets ripping into my lungs.

_So i'm standing in this phone booth_

_with a dollar and a dime_

_wondering what to say to you_

_to ease your troubled mind_

_For the lords cross might redeem us _

_but our own just wastes our time_

_and to tell the two apart is always hard love..._

As much as this hurt, as bad as it felt to let these memories consume me it also felt oddy peaceful. Like the sting of water on a burn, or alcohol cleaning a wound. It has to feel worse before it gets better.

_So i'll tell you that i love you _

_even though i'm far away_

_and i'll tell you how you change me _

_as i live from day to day_

_how you helped me to accept myself_

_and i won't forget to say_

_that love is never wasted even when it's hard love_

_Yes it's hard love_

_but it's love all the same_

_not the stuff of fantasy but more than just a game_

_And the only kind of miracle that's worthy of the name_

_for the love that heals our lives is mostly hard love_

I let my hand fall from the strings. I had left Max, the only girl i could ever love. The quiet black sky surrounded me, blending with the black roof and my ebony clothing. The night seemed to swallow me up. It felt strange, not perfect, but right. I had left Max, and while the song didn't fix that it helped fix me.

Iggy Pov:

I had known that Fang was musicaly gifted. At our house on the canyon he had kept me up into the late hours of the night with his music.

I had never minded, it was incredible music. At once emotion-filled and expressive, I had recorded it one night and played it back whenever I couldn't sleep. Fang's music was deep, soul shredding and oddly dissconnected. Like the sound had come from someplace else, someplace farther away and darker than Fang. It was oddly fitting, had Fang not had wings he would have become a musician.

I permitted myself a grin. No matter where or how Fang grew up he would have been stoic and introspective, brooding and dark.

I snapped myself back to the present, closing my eyes. He hadn't been himself since the flock split. Gazzy and I had just assumed that it was because of Max. I thought he'd be okay after we put some miles behind us. Gazzy said to give him some time getting used to being the leader, after all it was a hard job.

Neither of us had guessed that he missed her this much. Nudge, Gazzy, Angel especially, knew that they were the closest of all of us. I just hadn't known how close.

Fang Pov:

It was late, Iggy was probably tired. I stood up and stretched. The soft breeze ruffling my feathers. I walked to the edge of the roof and jumped off, the guitar in one hand. I circled once then flew at our window. I pulled my wings in to clear the window frame. Then I pushed them out hard, landing on the floor next to my bed.

Iggy Pov:

It took about four seconds to figure out Fang was back. He had glided in silently, leaving a slight breeze in his wake. Then the small thud of his boots hitting the floor. He turned,his boots making a small shifting sound.

"Igg?" I heard him whisper. I swallowed hard and said nothing.

Fang Pov:

Iggy looked nervous. That was a bad sign, it could mean flyboys. I did a quick 360, seeing no one except Gazzy. I did a quick look out the window, Iggy hadn't closed it yet. Still nothing.

"Fang I know you miss Max." He whispered, his voice sounding cold but concerned.

I froze, of all the things I expected to hear...that wasn't it. I had done my best to keep my feelings hidden from them. Somehow they sill knew that I missed her.

"How." I demanded keeping the concern from my voice. With Iggy this was easier, he couldn't see my face.

"The roof." He replied, gesturing to the open window.

_The window had never closed_. Iggy wouldn't have closed it if I was flying, because I would use the window to get back in. That meant..

"you heard."

"Yes."

"Why did you listen?"

"I had to know."

"Know what?"

"God dammit Fang." Iggy's voice was an icy whisper.

"Know what?" I asked again, my hands in fists against my sides.

"I had to know how bad off you were." He shot back.

"I am fine Iggy."

"No your not."

"Yes I.."

"Don't lie to me Fang." Iggy cut me off, glaring.

"I'm not."

Iggy Pov:

"Yes you are. You miss her. More than any of us can ever know. And how could you not! She was made for you!" My voice rose, louder and louder.

Fang grabbed me abruptly by the shoulders. He half dragged, half pushed me out the window, into the air and to the roof. We landed in a heap on the tar roof.

"That doesn't matter anymore." Fang muttered.

"The hell it doesn't." I spat back, frustrated.

There was a silence. In typical Fang style he had replied - by saying nothing.

"You did that for her." I said quietly, my voice empty and flat.

Fang Pov:

God Iggy. Could he not tell that I didn't want to talk about this? Was it that hard for him to grasp? Max was a thousand miles from here, she had nothing to do with our mission. Everything I felt for her- that was my own problem. They were my issues to deal with.

Until just now. Iggy had heard me, he knew what was wrong, at least to an extent.

"I am fine." I replied, my voice like ice. Iggy just stared at me.

"We don't want to lose you. The way we almost lost Max." His voice trailed off.

I didn't understand, Max tried to kill herself. I hadn't done that, I haven't even come close to that.

"I'm right here." I muttered, trying to keep my voice down. I couldn't afford for us to be kicked out of our hotel, or found on the roof.

"No your not." Iggy countered, shaking his head slightly. "Your different, like you left half of yourself with her. Screw the mission Fang, we need to go back."

"Back to what? The empty ski cabin, she's long gone. Besides, we can't just screw the mission. It's important, it isn't just the mission Iggy. It's the world, half the people in it."

Iggy Pov:

Nothing is more annoying than a great argument shot down by logic. Internally I cursed Fang. He just wasn't getting it. Everyday he disappeared a little more, like he was hiding inside himself. If Max knew about it she wouldn't have let him go.

If I had known this would happen I wouldn't have let him go.

Sure, Fang would save the planet with his blog. He'd build an army and try to fight the Itex, the school, all of it. But in the process he'd change, die, fade out. It was him or the world. I chose to save him, my friend, by brother.

Screw the world.

**A/N: I just love that song. I have never heard it sung though. Anybody else have really good Max Ride songs? (If you know of a few-please tell me) I hope you liked that, it was a long time coming-but amazingly fun to write.**

**peace love and a crimson lullaby**

**-twilightjunkie1313**


	7. broken glass

**A/N: Patterson owns it all. The characters and the plot for the books is all his idea. This however, is all my own. **

**enjoy**

**-twlightjunkie1313**

Max II Pov:

It was maybe an hour after Max and her flock had busted out of itex. She had left the room in complete disaray. Dust, chairs and broken counter tops lay crumbling on the floor along with chunks of concrete. Natrurally, I had followed the flock out of itex. Now I sat in a tall pine tree some sixty miles from the cursed compound.

This was a mess. I thought about the situation for a moment, trying to find anything positive. I needed something I could use to my advantage-that was what jeb had always taught me.

If you have a weapon, he said, you can always defend yourself.

Right.

So here I was, about seventy five feet off the ground and a safe distance from itex, Max and everything I felt farmiliar with. About five miles away I could see the sparkling lights of a small city, the halogen glow of a gas station. There were houses, stop lights and a few shops. I guessed the city held about seven thousand people. It would be the idea place to get food and a few supplies before I started east. If I started east.

That would mean leaving, for good.

I thought about it for a while as the breeze ruffled my hair. I couldn't go with Max and the flock, they wouldn't trust me. I couldn't blame them for that. Besides, I'd never be able to find them...so it wasn't an option.

I could strike out on my own, live on the run like Max. I could go to the gas station, pick up a few things and be gone in under an hour. It would be harder for me, she had her flock and I was alone. If i did that, if i left itex...well...

It would mean opposing everything I had been taught to believe. It would mean leaving itex and setting myself against Jeb and Ari and all the other scientists. Was I ready to do that?

Yes, I was.

So I took off from the pine tree, speeding toward the town and landing in the dark shadow of an older building. I took off down an ally toward the sound of traffic. I walked fast, not wanting to be seen or caught by anyone. I burst out of the ally onto the sidewalk, taking a sharp right. I glanced around me, my hoodie covering my face from onlookers. Thankfully there was nobody milling about.

I strode into the gas station minutes later, squinting a the bright lights. There was a couple in the station, and the clerk at the counter. But past that nobody else.

"Excuse me?" The clerk said quickly. I turned, expecting the clerk to become an eraser at any moment. He smiled nervously at my expression, looking me up and down.

It was at that second i noticed how I must have looked to him. My dirty pants, muddy shoes and battered sweatshirt made me feel self consious. But only for a second, I shot back a hard stare, saying nothing.

"Can I help you?" He asked, probably out of politeness.

"Do you have backpacks, snacks and camping supplies?" I asked using the false caml voice I had learned from the original Max. The clerk nodded.

"In the back by the waters." He said pointing to huge coolers hidden behind shelves of chips and jerky.

"Thanks."

I Grabbed a backpack, rope, chex-mix, water, jerky, pop-tarts, a windbreaker and a hat. I took them to the front and heaped them on the counter. The clerk raised an eyebrow.

"Do you need all of this?" He asked with a small laugh.

"Yeah." I said quickly.

"Why?" He said slowly. I flicked my eyes away from the security monitors behind him to his face. He was looking at me with ernest, like actually wanted to know why I needed this stuff. I thought for about two point three seconds, searching for the ideal lie.

"I am going camping, needed some last minute supplies." I cut myself off before I could say anymore. Lies should be as simple as possible. My time with Max's flock had taught me that.

The clerk nodded, seming satisfied with my answer, and finished scanning my stuff.

"Thirty four eighty three." He said quickly, looking up at me once again. I pulled out some cash, money I had gotten with the MaxRide credit card. And winced internally, that perchase alone had wiped out a good deal of my funds. Fang had enough sense to ask for the card, to buy some water. And I had let him have it.

So now I had about seventy dollars left. I smiled to the clerk, who nodded politely, and I left the gas station.

Fourty mintues later I was in the air, backpack half full of the things I had gotten from the gas station. The cap tucked safely away inside it.

I had a lot of thinking to do.

I could just lay low like Max had done. Maximum Ride, much as I hated to admit to it, had managed to evade itex for some time. So she must have known what she was doing. But where to lie low? That was a new and disturbing thought. I needed a place to hide, or at least stay for a while. Someplace that nobody would expect me to go.

Colorado.

I had read about it in the flocks files. Over and over there were mentions of their time spent at a secure location in colorado. There was also a mention, in more recent records, of the houses destruction.

I racked my brain for the exsact wording of the document. It came back to me in a flash...

_The location in colorado has been partially destroyed. _Partially destroyed. The wording made it sound as if part of the building still stood.

_Though there has not been confermation reguarding he extent of the damage. _It either meant itex didn't care about the place, or they were in no hurry to check it out. The last part sent a chill up my spine.

_No files were recovered from the site..._

Iggy had mentioned a little about the house, but only in passing. He said that Jeb had an desk in his bedroom, and a computer, and that he never let them mess with any of it. It was likely that jeb had kept files on the flock, observations on their growth and abilities.

And itex had never found them.

It hit me like a wave. Itex hadn't found the files, they thought that the building was a crumbling wreck. They probably had no intention of sending anyone out to guard a ruined house in the middle of nowhere. That made it a perfect hiding place.

I sped up, flying faster than normal. It would be difficult for anything to catch me. But that wasn't the only reason. I flew faster because it felt good to fly, the speed was addicting. My adrenalin raced in my veins, driving me faster. I threw my arms in front of me, fists curled, i let out a scream. The wind snatched it away before it could reach my ears. All the sound was drowned out by the rush of air flying past me.

I was happy, for the first time in my life I truely was happy. Not because I had mastered a new skill, or memorized another file on the flock. I was happy for a diffrent reason.

I was leaving Itex, making my own choices. I didn't have to save the world, the world wasn't my problem right now. I left that to Max- she could deal with it better than anyone.

I was going home. A place that i could feel safe, learn more about the flock and just be.

**A/N: As most of you know, or can guess, Max II ends up back at itex. If you want to stop reading right here (and keep the warm fuzzy feeling of this chapter) go ahead. But I'm not done telling her story.**

Max II Pov: (one day later)

I would have never found the house if I hadn't known it was here. But now that I had gotten here I doubted I could leave...ever.

The files from itex were half right- the place had suffered some damage. The huge windows that faced into the canyon had been blown out. There was smoke damage, turning some walls black and grey. Soot and ash coated the floor. I took note of these things as I walked through the messy kitchen into the living room dining room. The table stood whole- with eight chairs, all coated in grey ash and some dirt.

I walked into the living room, my eyes traveling straight to the windows. Or more accurately the space where windows had been, beyond the windows I could see more ash, many burned trees and what looked to be the epicenter of a large explosion.

A massive red flag shot up in my mind, the hairs on the back of my nech stood up. In all the reports I read there had been no mention of any explosion here. In fact there had been no explination for any of the damage at all... but I could guess by looking at the crater a mile and a half away. All the damage here had been caused by a bomb. A large bomb.

I continued my examination of the house. Just off the living room was a hallway, lined with many doors. I started with the one closest to me, opening it carefully-not sure what to expect.

It was a bedroom, one wall painted black the others left stark white. It was bare, only a chest of drawers and a bed. The bed was unmaid, black sheets crumpled to one side. It was Fang's room. No other flock member shared his intense love of the color black. I left the room quickly, shutting his door and moving on to the next. I found each bedroom, Angel, Gazzy, Iggy, Nudge. I left each one as soon as i figured out whom they belonged to. It felt wrong to linger in their space, even if it was abandoned.

I saved Max's room for last, knowing that I would want to spend more time inside it. I cracked the door open slowly.

Her room was brilliantly ordinary. She had a dresser and a twin bed- like each of her siblings. On top of her dresser there were stones, rough and red stones. Rock from the canyon i realized. Her dresser had a few pairs of pants left in it, some plain shirts. I slipped the bag off my back. It hit the ground with a thud, and I picked up one of the shirts.

Max's clothing would fit me. We were the same size, exactly. I grabbed a few of the shirts and two pairs of pants, feeling guilty as I slid them into my backpack. I searched all of the drawers, finding a notebook, pens and crayons in the bottom drawer. Hastily I grabbed a black crayon and the notebook. I wrote a quick note to Max...

_Max-_

_I am sorry for taking some of your stuff. I need it, I'm on the run from itex. I wish you the best- and if you read this you already know your house isn't gone. But I need you to know something else...Maximum Ride. I do not hate you-or the flock. I am sorry for what happened at Itex...i wish you the best._

_Max II-_

Then I dropped the notebook back into the drawer, along with the crayon. Max would find them if she came back. I left her room, pulling my backpack onto one sholder.

I moved toward the kitchen, backtracking. In my rush I had missed the rooms beside the kitchen. There were three doors. One was a half bathroom, only a toilet and a sink. The other was a pantry. It had some canned food, a few gallons of water, old bags of chips, some bread and pack of batteries. These people were seriously disorganized.

I moved to the last door, expecting the master bedroom- where jeb had his office. I stepped into the room, looking down to notice it was carpeted. The carpet held a thick coat of dust an ash.

"Hello Max."

My eyes went wide, i glanced up to see Jeb. He sat on the edge of his perfectly made bed, looking at me.

"Jeb." I said quickly, trying to compose myself. I began scanning the room, looking for exits. My sholders tightened, my hands curled into fists uncontiously.

"Max, calm down." He said, not standing up. His voice was soft. "I'm not here to hurt you."

I scanned Jeb's face, it looked absorbed. His eyes were drifting sround the room. I relaxed slightly, glancing around at the space for the first time. Jeb's room must have been amazing- before the windows blew out and the debris settled. The bed was huge above it sat a dark wooden headboard. The sheets were neatly made. The bedside tables each held a lamp, and nothing else.

I noticed that the room seemed empty, like nobody had ever lived here at all.

"Why are you here?" I asked suddenly, turning to Jeb. He tore his eyes from the desk in the corner.

"Hmm." He laughed weakly. "That is not the issue at hand Max." I stood silent for a moment. He got off the bed and walked to the hole where the windows had been.

"Better question, why are you here?" He asked with a detached but polite tone.

"I needed a place to hide." He frowned breifly.

"That's not true and you know it Max."

"Yes it is...I needed someplace to hide and figured that here was..." I searched for the words but Jeb cut me off. His tone was impatient.

"Max, if you were in fact looking for a place to hide you should not have selected a location that Itex has on file. Now i assume something else brought you here?" He turned from the window to face me.

"Do you have the files?" I asked as I began to move toward the desk, and the window. The window was my escape route, if that became nessecary.

"I beleive the flock hid them after I left."

"Where." I said, my voice was cold and urgent. I wanted information of the flock, especially if it was valuble enought to mention in Itex's reports.

"The closet. Maximum must have put it there." Jeb went to the wall by his bed. Since the wall was partially scorched it desguised the pocket door perfectly.

I watched Jeb pull a box from the bottom of the closet. He set it on the bed and removed the lid. I pulled out the first file. It was a manila folder, with a small handwritten lable in the corner.

"Those are observations on Angel, irrelivant at this point. She gained all her abilities after I left." He explained easily, I set the file down at the foot of the bed.

"There must be dozens of files here." I commented.

"Yes," Jeb began sorting files, placing them at either the head or foot of the bed. "My observations of the flock, mixed with ones taken from Itex."

"You stole files from Itex?"

"No."

"But you just said..."

"They are copies I made to take with me." Jeb clarified impatently. "The originals are still at Itex."

"Oh." I muttered looking down at the box. I could see Max's name written on the corner of a file. I grabbed it quickly, as well as the two behind it, Iggy's and Fang's. I turned and walked to the kitchen.

"You cannot leave with those." Jeb's voice sounded cold and suddenly anxious.

I froze. His tone turned my blood into ice. It was as if the threat had multiple meanings. The back of my neck prickled. My instincts screamed 'trap.'

Jeb was behind me in half a second. He put his hand on my sholder, rooting me in place.

"Let go." I said, fighting to keep panic from my voice. I spun to face Jeb, ready to fight.

"Why did you come? Or was it just the files that sparked your intrest?" His tone was lighter than normal, but prying none the less.

"This was a safe place. For a very long time the flock lived here, Max lived here. I thought it would be..." I stumbled on the words.

What had I been thinking? This was not my home, and Max considered Jeb an betrayer. Erasers had found this place, Itex had known where it was...

"This was never a safe place for anyone but myself." Jeb stated coldly.

"But Max, Iggy, Fang...Angel..."

"Were here under observation. As are you."

**A/N: ...**

**-twilightjunkie1313**


	8. Break

-1**I don't own this. Patterson does. I have wanted to do this piece for a long time, and now here it is!**

**A MAJOR APOLOGIE TO THOSE WHO WAITED FOR THIS...I HAVE P.C ISSUES AND HAVE FOUND ANOTHER PERSON TO POST FOR ME.**

**To ruby1792, Max-ride-obssesed, katie-3llen and my best friend edwardlover1313 (who borrowed my number for her name) You guys rock so this goes for you. To everyone else, i hope you like this as much as I do. enjoy.**

**-twilightjunkie1313**

Iggy Pov:

_"See you at the beach."_

Max had muttered that to Fang moments before she launched herself toward the shore. We didn't have any hope of catching her, she was going too fast. But something about the way she said it made me think that she didn't want us to catch up with her.

There was a pause, as Fang, Nudge and myself worked through every possible meaning of those words.

"Are we racing?" Gazzy asked innocently, his voice sounded confused.

"No, Max just needs her space." I replied.

"So why is Fang following her?" He countered.

My blood ran cold, for a second. Then my veins were filled with adrenalin. I listened for Fang's steady strong wing strokes, and found nothing. He was gone, and my brain was scrambling to fit the pieces together. Nothing added up.

Max's voice, telling us to meet her at the beach.

Her tone, calm, oddly detached and relaxed after her violent screaming not five minutes ago.

Fang gone, following after Max, not bothering to tell us where he was going or why.

Angel's thoughts pushed into my head.

_Iggy, we need to follow them. We don't know which beach Max was talking about...and there is a lot of coast._

Right. Follow, i can do that.

"Gazzy, let me hold your ankle, I need you to fly wide open-follow Fang." I said coldly, making the request sound like a cruel suggestion. In seconds Gazzy's ankle bumped the side of my outstretched arm. I grabbed into it, and we were gone.

Fang Pov:

I didn't have time to warn them, to tell them what was going on. They may not have heard the confusion, desperation anger and hurt in Max's voice - but I did.

And I followed after her, nowhere near her speed, but fast.

I was still far away when I spotted her. Max's body was a small moving speck on the white shoreline. As I dove the sight became clearer. Max's at the waters edge, snatching something out of the ocean. Her body tense as she stomped back into dry sand.

At first I thought it was a handful of rocks, to throw into the sea.

But as I lost altitude all the details appeared. The sharp jagged line of the shell. Her face, tight and pale, eyes lost. Then her raising the shell to her arm...knuckles white. I was close enough to scream at her. But i couldn't. For a moment, a fraction of a second I felt nothing at all. Like i was watching this play out from far away.

And then all the emotion came. I was scared and sad and so many other things. I could lose her, right here, on this beach. I came down on the beach landing hard, running toward her. Her arm was bleeding, the shell still hoovering above her pale skin. The worst possible thought came into my head...she was going to cut herself again.

I wasn't aware that I had crossed the beach, i wasn't aware of much at all. There was fear, and hurt and sadness coursing through me.

"What the hell are you doing?" I screamed, the sound of my voice snapping me back to the present. I grabbed Max's wrist, slapping the shell out of her hand.

"Are you crazy?" I asked, panic seeping through my veins. Did she want to die? Had she been trying to commit suicide? What was she thinking, why would she do that to us...

She glared at me. It was a pathetic glare, a broken, hurt and confused look. Her eyes focused on something behind me, and i realized the flock had arrived. Max looked away and I winced, the flock didn't need to see her like this. Kneeling in the dirt stained with blood, seeping over her forearm and now onto my hand.

"Want the chip out." Max muttered quietly. Her voice was weak, and shaken. I didn't care, if i had come with the rest of the flock...if i hadn't followed her here. She'd be dead and we'd be alone.

"Look at where your cutting!" I snapped, needing her to know how very close to i had come to losing her. "Your going to bleed to death, you idiot!" Something in her eyes blazed, chiding away from the word death. Numbly i realized the flock was still watching, that now wasn't the best time to talk.

I threw her hand aside, and took off my pack. I rummaged through it looking for the first aid kit. It took seconds for me to find the antiseptic, and a bandage. I grabbed Max's arm again, pouring the antiseptic over the cut. She winced.

I had regained focus enough to realize the flock had come closer, Nudge was kneeling into the sand next to Max. I scanned the flock quickly as I wiped blood off Max's arm. Iggy was a bit paler, Gazzy and Angel stood farther back. Nudge was silent, her eyes wide. They were scared, almost as much as I was.

"Max." Nudge began slowly, her voice shaking slightly. "What were you doing?"

"I wanted the chip out." Max repeated in a whisper.

I could understand that she wanted the wretched thing out- maybe it was responsible for the voice. But I didn't care, i would never let her try and cut it out. A life on the run was much, much better than no Max. How stupid- how irresponsible of her to do that. I didn't care if the school could find us, no matter where we hid. I just needed her, and them.

"Well, forget it!" I said quickly. I had gotten all the blood off her arm, and was now wrapping a white bandage around it.

"The chip stays in, you don't get off that easy. You die when we die." I closed my eyes, trying to get a hold of myself. When I opened them Max was looking at me. Her eyes reading my every expression.

And then se cried. Her body shaking with sobs. She didn't fight or say a word. Just curled up into a ball, kneeling in the sand, her hands covering her face. She was doubled over her wings shaking silently. I didn't think, i just reacted. Wrapping my arms around her firmly, pulling her up off the sand into me.

She leaned into me, still sobbing uncontrolably. I let her. I closed my eyes and tried to absorb her hurt. I felt the flock pressing in on us, still silent.

"Shh, shh." Nudge's voice was soothing now. I wondered how hard that must have been for her. She could probably feel Max's pain, my anxiety. I opened my eyes, seeing the flock, each reaching for Max, their eyes full of shock and sadness. Iggy's face was pale and drawn, and i know he must have been scared worse than he let on.

He was afraid for her, and for us. It had been an understanding between us that if the flock ever lost Max we would both lead. But we had never come closer to that point than today.

Iggy Pov:

We set up camp on the beach, a few miles down from where we landed. Max wanted to be away from the blood, Fang wanted to be away from the memory. They never said anything to the rest of us, but we just moved.

We set camp, and Max went to sleep after dinner. Nudge vollenteered to take last watch and Fang didn't object. The flock was asleep in moments.

"You okay?" Fang asked suddenly. His voice was stoic and calm, but the words surprised me.

"No." I said slowly, a sigh escaping my lungs. "I didn't know. I didn't catch it like you did, i should have known something..." I went silent.

"I've never been so close to losing her." Fang's voice faltered slightly, i could only guess what he was feeling. "If i had come slower...god." His last word was a whisper.

More slashes of memory played through my mind, vivid as any image i had seen. Max's body sprawled out on the beach, encircled by a halo of red sand. Her tan wings still and stained. Her skin cold.

"Are you okay?" I asked him. Trying to push the image out of me. I never wanted to see it again. I never wanted to be in that place again.

"I will be." He said coldly. I knew it was as close to the truth as Fang would get.

"Will she be okay?" I asked slowly.

Silence, i heard the rustling of fabric, Fang's shirt, as he looked at her.

"It's a lot, for anybody." I said quickly, standing up and moving to a place on the ground, on the other side of the flock.

I didn't dream that night.

Fang Pov:

Iggy's words drilled themselves into my head. The more they replayed the more i knew he was right. The things we did, what we dealt with would be a lot for anybody.

But she wasn't just anybody, she was Maximum Ride.

I smiled weakly to myself. She was the girl who named herself. The ultimate warrior, survivor, my best friend. We had lived through so much, and she had always, somehow come back fighting. I wanted to scream at the sky and every scientist who had ever lived.

They were killing her slowly.

Eventually it would become too much, it was only a matter of time- even for her. I had my second right after jeb left where i chose between giving it all up and sticking it out. I had stayed here with them.

And so had she, even after itex, jeb, ari, and all the other personal hells. Max had stayed with us and guided us. I looked at Max. The fresh white bandages on her wrist, the purple bruise like shadows under her eyes. The tenseness of her sholders, even now in sleep.

I had never known what it had cost her.

Until now.

**-twilightjunkie1313**


	9. Mothers and sons

**A/N: This chapter was difficult, but i thank all those who waited for it. I hope it's worth it. Again, I own nothing but the words. The rest belongs to the amazing James Patterson, I bow to him.**

Fang Pov:

I saw it in Iggy's eyes, every time we had stopped to check and see if one of our parents lived there, he broke a little more. I felt bad for him in a way max couldn't. I knew how he felt- she guessed. She didn't know how he felt.

I did. I knew what it was like to have a part of your soul ripped out when you saw that the one link you had to a family- to humanity- had been a dead end, a complete lie. I knew what it was like to think that the people you put up on a pedestal- your parents, had given you up for coke money or because they didn't want you.

Max knew nothing about feeling like that. I was happy for her, because she could still dream that her mom loved her and her dad cried for days after she left. She could still hope to god that they were looking for her, we couldn't.

I saw that in Iggy's face every time we looked for our families. I won't ever forget that look.

Iggy Pov:

A while ago, just after nudge hacked itex Fang stayed up for my shift. I could hear him rustling in the leaves and twigs, he sat there for a good half hour before he said a word.

"Igg?" He called calmly.

"Hmm?" I replied.

"Do you want to find them?" He asked, it was obvious who he was referring to. The flock had been chattering about finding their respective homes for a few days now.

"Yes." I said instantly. I heard him take a deep breath.

"Even if it meant leaving us?" It was impossible to miss the message in his words. _Would you abandon us for your family- even if they abandoned you first?_

"I don't know."

Fang was silent. I wanted to fill up the empty space, silence was not as comforting when your blind.

"Would you?" I asked suddenly.

"No." The answer was instant. I knew it was true, Fang would never leave his family- no matter who he was actually related to. I noticed that his silence held an angry feeling.

"They aren't my real family anymore." He said darkly. "They had their chance, she could have kept me."

"Fang.." I warned, hoping he wouldn't wake angel or gazzy. His voice was rising with anger.

"She was an addict. Do you know what that means? It means she was probably high when i was born. She gave me up for money, she's not my mother..."

"Fang." I said slowly, hearing max's footsteps in the leaves.

"She sold me for drugs." The ice in fang's voice broke and he was silent. He didn't cry though and for that i was happy. To hear him, the strong one, break would be too much.

"You can't know that." It was Max's voice, soft but strong.

Fang Pov:

Great self righteous Max was here to save us all.

Not what I needed.

"And you can?" I shot back. I saw her hold back a glare. I wanted to hit her, i didn't need her sympathy.

"I don't know where my parent's came from." She defended.

"So they could be from a fairy tale, and their waiting to whisk you off on a private jet and take you to their vacation home in Paris." I said coldly. She winced a little and i knew i hit a soft spot.

"The point is i don't know Fang and i'd kill to have what you have." Her voice had steel in it.

I snorted holding back sarcastic laughter.

"What? An addict mother?" I knew this was out of line but i didn't really care.

"No. A past." She sounded lethal. It was her tone that sobered me for a second.

The next second she was running for the sky, soaring up into the moonlight, gone until dawn.

I looked at Iggy, he had dutifully sat out my break with reality. I felt tired.

"She's right you know." He murmured.

I stayed quiet. I didn't want to have this fight with iggy, i felt empty. He kept going anyway.

"You guys know. It may not be the best past, but it's there and you know about it..."

He stopped to look up at the sky. Even if he couldn't see it.

"It's better than not knowing."

He turned to me, waiting for me to speak.

I was silent, holding it all in. I didn't want to yell, i wasn't out to pick a fight with Iggy.

"She's right."

Then i couldn't stay quiet.

"I would kill to be her right now." I whispered. Iggy seemed stunned.

"Why?"

"Because, if you know, you can't hope anymore. You can't just tell yourself that there was a mistake, but your parents still love you. That someday they might find you, or you might find them. "

I let the next words sit in my stomach before i spoke them.

Igg waited, sensing i had more.

"I know that my mother is an addict, assuming she's alive. Whenever i see a woman in the alleys and back ways I always wonder if that was the one who gave me up."

Iggy nodded and i could see a tear welling at the side of his eye.

Iggy Pov;

"What do you think igg?" Fang asked, the ice creeping back into his voice. The words pulled me out of my fog. I struggled to find something to say.

"I think your right, and your lucky." I hoped he wouldn't ask why i thought that. Fang had an eerie way of probing into your soul with a single well placed question. If Max was the best intimidator, Fang was the best interrogator.

"Hmm." It wasn't really a reply, just a sound.

"I'd kill to have that, to be able to think that anyone on the street could be my parent. Now that I know, i wish I didn't." Fang nodded at the comment.

Max Pov:

As soon as i launched myself into the sky I felt the guilt and remorse weigh me down like lead. I did a wide circle, by the time I got back, Fang and Iggy were deep in discussion. I landed as quietly as I could in a far reaching oak branch.

I didn't really hear all of what they said, I didn't have too. Bits and pieces stuck in my head, quotes that replayed themselves in the silence between words.

_"It's better than not knowing."_

_"Because, if you know, you can't hope anymore. You can't just tell yourself that there was a mistake, but your parents still love you. That someday they might find you..."_

This is what they faced. I was reminded of a thing Jeb used to tell us 'The grass is always greener...' or some similar crap. After hearing them talk I knew better. The grass was dead, on both sides. No matter who we are or what we become our past would always haunt us.

**-twilightjunkie1313**


	10. Home

A/N: I do not own the characters

**A/N: I do not own the characters. **

**This chapter is dedicated to ruby1792, Green.Winged.Mistress (you'll always be katie3llen to me) and Edwardlover1313. **

**Now for the end.**

Max Pov:

(After MR3)

_We were flying again, rising above the confusing and troubled Earth, into the simple, perfect, clear blue sky, where everything else was peaceful and made sense..._

That night we landed about three hundred miles outside of the colorado sate boarder. Iggy picked the spot, a feild with a thin grove of trees in the center of it, perfect to sleep it.

The next day we were up at sunrise. We flew hard all morning and at mid afternoon I saw the canyon and forests that had been my backyard, before all this. It was on odd feeling to see it again, like I was coming back to someplace I belonged.

I glanced around me, Iggy's eyes were closed. Gazzy's were watering. Nudge had a distant smile on her face, Angel was grinning like mad. Total was straining in the carrier, Fang was ignoring him, eyes set on the building below.

As we got closer I realized what was wrong. The house was whole, undamaged from the fire and the bomb set off nearly three years ago.

We landed in a loose formation near the canyon's edge. From there I could see that the support beams had been replaced. I ran to the front door, Fang and Iggy at my side, I pulled it open in a rush.

There was no sound.

No creak as the door slid along it's hinges, no whispers from the flock. I walked slowly down the high ceilings of the entryway. There was nothing on the walls or floors. Just like when we last lived here.

I drifted into the kitchen, running my hand along the countertop that had seemed to get lower each year. The room had been cleaned, and a singe large cardboard box sat neatly on the counter. I felt my neck prickle.

"Open it." Fang said suddenly from behind me.

I stared at the box, it had no address, just a sentence scrawled in sharpie on the top.

_"To Maximum Ride"_

I opened the box carefully. Underneath a few layers of paper were pictures, a dozen pictures in plain black frames. They were of the house. Some showed it half mangled and charred, wreaked from the fire, others showed it whole. There were six photographs of feathers, i realized they were not birds feathers. I saw Fang's eyebrows rise when I pulled them out. They were close ups of our feathers, one for each of us.

There was a note buried in the bottom.

_Max,_

_I wish I could have been a better father to you, to all of you. _

I heard Fang snort over my shoulder. I remembered Ari dying in my arms, my first flying lesson, Jeb leaving us.I felt a numbing cold wash over me. It was all over, this whole nightmare was done.

_The house belongs to you and the rest of the flock. _

I felt my eyes tear...the words became harder to read.

_...upon your eighteenth birthday you will each get two million dollars. It was money I wired out of Itex into the following accounts..._

I skimmed over the numbers, they didn't matter right now. I heard a noise coming from Jeb's room. Nudge or someone was searching it. I skipped to the last few sentences.

_I have several boxes in my closet, in them are the original files Itex kept on you, the flock and your clone... I wish you well Maximum._

_-Jeb_

I heard someone calling my name. I walked absently into Jeb's bedroom to where Nudge, Iggy and Angel kneeled around boxes full of papers and files.

"It's us." Nudge said.

I stared down at the boxes, our lives in the form of files and reports.

"Are these the only copies?" Fang spoke like a shadow behind me.

I nodded.

"It's all there?" Iggy asked, standing still, shocked by the doorway.

"Yes," Nudge replied quietly. "It's all here."

It was here, the memories of our pain put in the most plain and unfeeling wording possible. It was a reminder of what they did to us. I wanted to burn the files, but instead I picked one up. Gently, as if it were glass.

I began to read it, behind me I was vaguely aware that Fang and Gazzy were grabbing files, and paging through them.

Weeks went by.

We still haven't finished reading them all, but we know the important stuff. We know that Fang's mom died shortly after he was born, that Angel and Gazzy have a mother who works at library in Farmont Kentucky. We know that each of us has a past and that now it's not a secret.

We learned that Max II befriended Ari, that she beat him in every hand to hand combat scenario they tested her on. She had never lost until she faced me. We learned that after she fought me she cried.

We learned that we were never given expiration dates.

That was the best gift Jeb gave us. Buried deep in those boxes, along with our pasts and our memories, there was a shot at living.

We took it. We live our lives the way we always have... fast, hard and free. We have scars, we will always have the scars. But now we have hope too.

**-twilightjunkie1313**


End file.
